By Mary Drier
Staff Writer
THUMB AREA — Michigan residents can’t get a break from Ol’ Man winter when it comes to highway conditions which has caused several accidents, including a fatal.
At 4:28 p.m., Friday, the Huron County Sheriff’s Department responded to an accident on M-25 north of the Geiger Road intersection in Fairhaven Township.
According to the initial police report, a southbound 1998 Chevrolet Tracker driven by Michael S. Briggs Jr., 21 of Bay City, apparently went out of control on the icy roadway and entered the path of a northbound 2012 Ford van, driven by Christopher M. Thick, 33, of Bad Axe.
“Shortly after impact, the Briggs vehicle caught fire. With quick action by a passing motorist and Mr. Thick, Mr. Briggs was freed from his vehicle before it was destroyed by fire,” explained Huron Sheriff Kelly Hanson.
“Mr. Briggs died moments later. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Huron County Medical Examiner’s Office. Mr. Thick refused medical treatment at the scene.”
The accident remains under investigation.
Other agencies that also responded were Sebewaing Ambulance Service, Fairhaven Fire and Sebewaing Fire.
Over the last few days, law enforcement agencies throughout the Thumb area reported several other accidents as well as vehicles in ditches.
As of Tuesday morning, the Tuscola County Sheriff’s Department handled 27 accidents since Friday, according to Undersheriff Glen Skrent.
One of which was about 10 a.m., Monday, on Fostoria Road near Swaffer Road in Watertown Township where a vehicle driven by Cody Shrontz, 20, of Millington left the roadway. He was traveling northbound on Fostoria and lost control. The vehicle went into the ditch on the east side and rolled over. Shrontz only sustained minor injuries.
“There were a lot of vehicles in the ditch and minor accidents,” said Skrent.
While most of the accident reports were routine, there was on report that did get the veteran undersheriff’s attention.
“There was one report of a vehicle in the ditch and the driver was wearing pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt…” said Skrent. “People really need to dress for the weather.
“Guess they don’t think they will have vehicle problems.”
Even if a vehicle doesn’t break down, weather and especially road conditions are precarious in the winter, and there is only so much road commission snow plows can do.
During last weeks snow storm, Tuscola road crews worked around the clock for three to four days.
Extreme cold limit the tools road commissions can use. Salt is ineffective in temperatures below 20 degrees. To apply sale in very low temperatures actually accelerates the refreezing process and makes road conditions worse.
To help with slippery intersections when it’s too cold to use salt, the next options are mineral brine or chloride – sand mix, according to Tuscola County Road Commission Director of Finance Mike Tuckey.
Even though there was only scattered snow showers Thursday adding that to what was left of the 16 inch snow fall from last week, created poor road conditions Friday morning.
“There is a lot of drifting in some areas, especially from the wind where there are open fields,” said Tuckey.
The latest weather forecast for the state calls for scatter snow showers and low temperatures.
Mary Drier is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at drier@tcadvertiser.com.